Speed
by DawnieDeuce2891
Summary: The genin of Konoha spend their time at Ichiraku's playing a card game that has become insanely popular. Read as they face off against one another at a friendly game of Speed.
1. Neji vs Naruto

"You can't put a king down ontop of a ten you moron!" snapped Neji at Naruto. "I thought you understood how to play?"

"I never understand these stupid card games, Neji so quit yelling at me!" whinned Naruto at him.

Neji sighed. "Alright listen to me: this game is called _Speed_ alright? Basically, what your trying to do is get rid of all your cards. You do this by putting the cards down in a certain order. Following?" Naruto nodded and Neji continued. "Good. When these two cards flip over, your job is to place a card that follows or comes before that card down there. Keep doing this until you get rid of all your cards. Say there is a nine down there, if you have an eight or a ten, you can place it down and work up or down from that until all your cards are gone. Get it now?"

"Sorta." Naruto folded his arms and grunted. "Hey, no fair! You have those eyes, you can see my cards!"

"Naruto, seeing someone elses cards doesn't really matter. I'll show you mine." Neji flipped the cards around so Naruto can see. He had a Jack of Hearts, Ten of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Four of Clubs, and Six of Dimonds. Naruto sighed and nodded. "Do you want to give it another try?"

Naruto nodded and Neji took all the cards and shuffled them in his hands. They could hear footsteps and they turned around to see Sasuke walking up to them. Neji said nothing and Naruto waved weakly. They turned back and Neji began to layout the cards; two decks with five cards each face down on the sides and two face down cards in the middle. He dealed out twenty cards to Naruto and he shuffled the remaining and took five cards in his hands. Naruto followed suit as Sasuke sat next to them.

Sauske's brow scrunched. "What are you doing?"

"Playing _Spade _Sasuke." said Naruto grabbing five cards.

"_Speed_ Naruto, the game is _Speed._" corrected Neji. He turned to Sasuke. "You can play the next round if you'd like."

Sasuke nodded and watched Neji and Naruto play. Each took one of the middle cards and flipped over revealing a Jack of Dimonds and Six of Dimonds. Naruto looked at his cards. He took out a Five and was about to place it down when Neji slammed a ten, nine, and eight straight down ontop of the jack. Naruto placed his five down and took another card as Neji began to place more cards down.

"No fair, Neji! Your to fast!"

"That's why they call it _Speed_ dumbass!" said Sasuke who sat and watched them. "So speed it up."

Eventually Naruto got down to having fifteen cards left while Neji had only the five in his hands. Naruto could tell Neji was waiting for a good card. The two card in the middle were a four and an ace. Naruto had a five, two threes, one two and one king. He had a feeling though that Neji had cards that followed those so Naruto struggled for a moment. Bravely, he took the two and place it on the ace. As soon as it was placed, Neji placed down an ace, two, three, four, and a five down ontop, slapped his hands on the deck and shouted, "_Speed!_"

"Darn it!" cried Naruto who threw the cards down on the floor and grunted. Sasuke gave a slight smirk at this as well as Neji.

"Sorry Naruto, your just not fast enough." Neji collected the cards and began to shuffle again. "Sasuke, you want to play?"

Sasuke shook his head and stood up. "I'm going to Ichiraku's for something to eat."

"Wait for me, I'm coming too!" shouted Naruto who got up and ran for the ramen bar.


	2. Sasuke vs Kiba

Chapter 2: Sasuke vs Kiba

Sasuke, Naruto, and Neji arrived at Ichiraku's to find all their teammates eating big bowls of ramen. Naruto pushed past Hinata and Shino to order five bowls. Neji sat at the far end near Ten Ten and Sasuke sat by Sakura who hadn't noticed until he ordered. Naruto grabbed the ramen and began to chomp down and slurp up the noodles.

Shino looked at him and shook his head. "You'll get sick."

"Please! I've been eating this way for years and your warning me now?" said Naruto in between bites. "Besides, I've never gotten sick eating this much so why should I get sick this time?"

As Naruto babbled on, Kiba laughed as he kept feeding Akamaru small bits of noodles from his bowl. He went to reach for some new chopsticks when his hand colided with Sasuke's. They stared at each other slightly before grabbing a pair each. Naruto sucked down the third bowl, belched and began to babble some more.

"Ramen keeps me in top shape for missions! Besides, I have to show Kakashi-sensei that I've improved greatly! Believe it!"

"Weren't you training before?" asked Shino quietly.

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, I was playing _Speed_ with Neji. Ever play?"

"Who hasn't? Your really behind aren't you?" Shikamaru said from behind Hinata. "Don't tell me you beat Neji at that game."

"He didn't." Neji stated from the otherside of Shikamaru. "I taught him so the chances of him winning on the first shot aren't very good. Although the second shot was much worse."

Sasuke sighed. "Stupid card games."

"At least I could beat you since you've never played Sasuke!" said Naruto.

"Who says I've never played?" he smirked as he turned his head to Naruto. "Acturally, I'm very good."

"Then play me!" shouted Naruto grabbing the fourth bowl. "I challange you to _Speed_ Sasuke!"

A laugh was heard from Sakura who sat next to Sasuke. "You couldn't beat Sasuke if you tried!"

"I'm not playing against you anyway dobe, I want to challange someone a lot better." Sasuke said as he turned back and finished his bowl of ramen.

"Alright then, Uchiha, play against me!" shouted Kiba with a loud bark from Akamaru. "You want someone good, I'm very good at playing!"

Everyone shifted and sat around Kiba and Sasuke. Neji shuffled and dealed out the cards. Sasuke took his five from the top of the deck and rearranged them to his liking. Kiba took five random cards from the deck and rearranged them. They sat there for a few seconds before each one took one of the cards in the middle and flipped it over.

Sasuke immediately put down a five, a six, and another five ontop of the four while Kiba worked off of the queen by placing down a king and began to build on the side Sasuke had placed his cards on. They each moved at the same speed quickly and trick moves were made. Kiba stopped Sasuke's run; Sasuke put down a ten on the jack and was about to put on a nine, but Kiba caught him and put down another jack followed by a queen, king, and ace.

The match was like that back and forth the whole time, a very interesting game until they both got down two three cards. They flipped the cards from the side decks over and Sasuke placed down two of his cards, leaving only one in his hands. They flipped the cards over again and Kiba placed down one. Another time the cards were flipped and Kiba placed down another card and Sasuke placed his final card ontop of Kiba's and shouted out _Speed._

Kiba was a little angry, but shook Sasuke's hand and walked behind Shino to order more Ramen. Sasuke wore a cocky grin as he gathered the cards and allowed Neji to shuffle them.

"Now I want to face someone!" shouted Naruto. "Anyone! I'll go against anyone!"

Lee saluted him and said, "I'll go against you Naruto. It shall be an honor."

"Whatever, now sit down and play!"


	3. Lee vs Naruto

Neji shuffled the cards once again and dealed them out. Naruto followed what Neji taught him and studied his cards so he doesn't double check them everytime Lee puts down a card. Lee grabbed five cards and kept them face down in his palm. Naruto looked at him oddly.

"I prefer to go with what luck gave me, Naruto! I do not need to know what cards I have right now."

Naruto's brow lifted. "Your strange, Lee."

They placed their hands above the cards and flipped them over. Both sat there for a moment before they realized they had no cards to put down. The flipped the cards from the side over and Lee placed down three of his. Naruto grunted lightly as he put down one and took one from the deck. The sounds of slurping from Kiba and Ino in the background irritated Naruto as he played.

Lee sat there blankly as he waited for Naruto to put something down. Naruto rearranged his cards and put down a six, a seven, and an eight ontop of the five. Lee jumped and placed his nine and ten ontop of that and grabbed cards from his deck. They sat there focusing on each other and the cards next to them that have yet to be placed in the center.

After a minute, Naruto placed down a king on an ace and started to go backwards about six cards. Lee stopped him before Naruto put down a seventh card and began to pile his own down. They did this quickly back and forth until they both got down to one card left in each others hands. They each took a card from the side and flipped it over. Their friends around them were anticipating something, but go nothing in return. They flipped another card over, still nothing. They did this four times until they finally flipped the cards over and both were threes.

Lee had a four and Naruto had a two. They jumped and slammed their hands on the table and shouted out _Speed_ at the same time. They glared at one another for a while before Neji decided it was a tie and that they will quit before Naruto loses more of his temper.

Naruto turned back to finish his fifth bowl and sat next to a glowing Sasuke who was laughing at Naruto's stupidity. Lee got a pat on the back by Ten Ten who bought the next bowl of ramen for him.

Choji burped and turned to Ino and Shikamaru. "One of you should go next."

"Why not you?" asked Shikamaru.

"Because I'm still eating."

Ino flipped her hair. "I don't even know how to play, do you Shika?"

"Well, I do, but it's such a drag to go against these guys." Shikamaru placed his head in his hands. "Lets face it, no one here could beat me, right? So why bother. It's troublesome."

"If your so sure of yourself, go ahead and face someone then!" said Neji.

Shikamaru sat up. "Like you?"

"Why not, I'm a fair player."

"No!" shouted Sakura in between them. "It's my turn and I challange Shikamaru."

Shikamaru sat dumbfounded for a few seconds. "You want to fight me in _Speed_?"

"Neji, we all know, is very good, but I haven't shown my skills in this game yet." Sakura sat down and waved for Shikamaru to come over. "What's wrong, afraid to get beaten by a girl."

Shikamaru sighed. "Everyone always uses that against me. What a pain." He walked over and sat across from her.

"Good, let's fight!"


	4. Shikamaru vs Sakura

Neji dealed out the cards again and placed them in front of the two. Naruto and Sasuke stopped and watched along with everyone else. Shikamaru took his hand and held it, waiting for Sakura to rearrange her cards. She placed them carefully and sat there looking into Shikamaru's intimidating face.

"Your already slow at this, Sakura, why bother continuing?" said Shikamaru. Ino cheered in the background which made Sakura mad.

She nodded and they each flipped over the middle cards. Shikamaru swept clean over her, placing down card after card ontop of his others as Sakura sat there dumbfounded; not being able to place anything down. Shikamaru placed a four over a three, five over the four, four over the five and a three over the four. It kept going like that the entire time until he got down to five cards in his hands. He looked at them, rearranged them to tick Sakura off, and sat there with stupid grin.

"Come on, Sakura, your turn."

Sakura saw a move. She had to becareful incase Shikamaru placed his final cards down. She took her five cards, rearranged them, and placed them down all at once so he couldn't cut her off. She procceded with the rest of the cards; each moment getting more tense for Shikamaru until she herself was down to five cards. They stared at each other with a stupid grin.

"Come on, Sakura, don't play stupid. You know you can't win."

Sakura sighed. "Eat my dust, smartass."

"I'm going to win." said Shikamaru. "I can see you shaking already."

"I'm shaking because I can't wait to see the look on your face when I do-" she cut off and placed all five of her cards down ontop of the seven and smacked the deck. "... this. _Speed_ Shikamaru!"

Naruto and Hinata were loudest to clap before they continued eating. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sat there with cards in his hand. Sakura gave him a faint smile before gathering the cards and giving them to Neji.

"That was troublesome." Shikamaru stood up and began to walk away. "I need to go."

"Wait up Shika, wait for me and Choji!" Ino began to run after them.

Neji placed the cards in his pocket as Shino, Kiba, and Hinata got up and said goodbye to them too. Ten Ten and Lee waited for Neji as he watched Sasuke leave. Naruto came up to him and held out his hand. Neji shook it blankly. Naruto began to walk away when he turned around to face Neji.

"You have to find a new game for us to play! Speed is getting old!" shouted Naruto.

Neji smiled. "Oh I'll find something for you, Naruto!" He watched Naruto walk away before turning to Ten Ten and Lee.

"Have a new game in mind?" asked Ten Ten.

Neji nodded and smirked. "Yep. BS. He won't get it right away, but he'll understand a little later. Come on." Lee and Ten Ten nodded and followed Neji.


End file.
